[LouisVanDerWright]

And Team Rahm unleashes the first wave of carpet bombing:

Pro-Emanuel super PAC targets Waguespack and Arena

The $2 million super PAC created to re-elect Mayor Rahm Emanuel and strengthen his City Council majority is taking aim at another member of the Progressive Caucus and a second shot at one of Emanuel’s strongest critics.

Aldermen Scott Waguespack (32nd) and John Arena (45th) are the targets of Chicago Forward’s latest offensive, while their Progressive Caucus colleague Nick Sposato (36th) gets a pass as he attempts to triumph over the field of candidates running for an open seat in the Northwest Side’s 38th Ward.

Last month, Chicago Forward blanketed the 32nd Ward with a costly direct-mail piece targeting Waguespack for casting one of four “no” votes against a 2015 budget that raised the city’s parking tax again to generate $10 million needed to double the year-round army assigned to patch potholes and repair crumbling streets...

More here:http://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-...guespack-arena

Emanuel super PAC rides to the rescue of 17 incumbent aldermen

The $2 million super PAC created to re-elect Mayor Rahm Emanuel and strengthen his City Council majority is coming to the rescue of 17 of the mayor’s most loyal supporters.

Chicago Forward is hoping to put the mayor’s City Council floor leader, two of his aldermanic appointees and 14 other incumbents over the top with spending in the “healthy six-figure range” on direct-mail, robocalls and “digital communication.”

Becky Carroll, the longtime mayoral ally now serving as chairman and CEO of Chicago Forward, said it’s the first of a “steady drumbeat” of spending on aldermanic races she plans to roll out in the three weeks that remain before the Feb. 24 election.

The direct-mail piece blanketing the 29th Ward states, “Chicagoans deserve a $13 minimum wage. Ald. Deborah Graham delivered.” Similar mailers will be going out in the other 16 wards.

Beneficiaries of the first wave are among Emanuel’s most loyal supporters. All of them find themselves in contested races. Some are in trouble. Others can just use a little boost.

Joining Graham are the following aldermen: Will Burns (4th), Natashia Holmes (7th), Anthony Beale (9th), John Pope (10th), Joann Thompson (16th), Lona Lane (18th), Howard Brookins (21st), Mike Zalewski (23rd), Danny Solis (25th), Roberto Maldonado (26th), Deb Mell (33rd), Emma Mitts (37th), Marge Laurino (39th), Pat O’Connor (40th), James Cappleman (46th) and Debra Silverstein (50th)...

More here: http://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-...mbent-aldermen

Rahm's allies are going to thrash the "Progressive Caucus" with the leftover cash they don't use to sink gang banger patron Chuy... I'm sure that's just the first such tidbit of low blow secrets Rahm is sitting on to slam Chuy with in the coming weeks. The onslaught is just beginning...